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Reducing Risk, Building Resilience

The Children's Program Training Academy is all about the children, and breaking the generational cycle of addiction through resilience, empowerment and hope.

It is a fact that almost one in three children in America lives in a home where addiction to alcohol and other drugs has a strong negative impact on their childhood development. Children growing up in such an environment quickly develop defenses of not talking about their situation, expressing their feelings, or trusting those around them. They literally develop "holes in their soul," creating an environment of significantly higher risk for perpetuating the generational cycle of addiction as these children confront adolescence and pass into adulthood. Conservatively stated, children growing up in families of addiction are two to three times more likely to repeat the cycle when pressures mount.

The Betty Ford Institute Children's Program & Training Academy is a national training resource for:

1. Agencies who wish to develop a community and/or culturally specific version of the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program in their own service area
2. Clinicians and other caring professionals wanting to strengthen their skills in serving children and families hurt by alcoholism and other drug addictions
3. Programs already serving this vulnerable population who want to deepen their effectiveness and insure their long-term viability.

Learn more about the Children's Program Training Academy

Historical Background
Overview
Training Academy Licensing Program
Certificate Program
Individual Consultations
Enhancement Services
Training Tools

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For more information, contact Jerry Moe, M.A. at (760) 773-4103 or e-mail .

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Monday, October 4, 1982 marked the opening of the Betty Ford Center. That morning, Mrs. Betty Ford and co-founder, Leonard Firestone greeted two female and two male patients. From this historic beginning, the Betty Ford Center has considered addiction to alcohol and other drugs to be a family disease. Besides the patient, an average of eight other people are affected.

For this reason, the Betty Ford Center, since its inception, has provided a five-day, comprehensive Family Program for family members and friends who are thirteen years of age and older.

Twenty-six years later, more than 90,000 individuals have enrolled in the Center's Residential, Outpatient, Residential Day Treatment, 90-Day and Family Programs. Experience also taught us that children younger than thirteen needed to be included in the recovery process. Left out of the recovery process, they remained at a substantially higher risk to repeat the generational cycle of addiction.

In the early 1990s, the staff of the Family Program created a unique intervention, prevention and education program to address the special needs of children aged seven through twelve. This four-day program of empowerment focuses on strengthening a child's natural resilience and providing him or her with the tools to overcome misunderstanding and fear. Through the program children learn that they are not alone in their situation, that the addicted person in their life is not "bad," but has an illness, and that they are not responsible for causing, changing or controlling the chaos in an addictive family environment. These insights can replace fear and misunderstanding with a sense of empowerment and hope.

After several years of success involving the children of our own patients, and in response to requests from alumni around the country, the Betty Ford Center began offering the Children's Program to families in Southern California who had no patient connection to the Center. The impact on these children matched the responses of the children on campus. The needs of the children were universal, and deeper than even suspected.

Challenged to venture further from the security of our own geographic area, in 1998, we opened a satellite office in Dallas-Fort Worth. In 2006, a second satellite office for the Children's Program was opened in Denver, Colorado, making three programs in all. During the past ten years, over 13,000 children and family members have attended the Children's Program. Because the program has attracted such a solid base of supporters who recognize the vulnerability of children and wish to help this "at high risk" population, over 90% of the families participate on scholarship.

Children from forty-nine states and over a dozen countries have attended. In the Spring of 2007, the program was presented for the first time ever in China.

More than 8.3 million children live with at least one parent who abuses or is addicted to alcohol or other drugs (National Household Survey on Drug Abuse [NHSDA], 2007).

With a generation of children who are growing up "at risk," the success of the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program has prompted numerous requests for services from other agencies, professionals and programs around the country. Our response is the creation of the Children's Program Training Academy.

Overview

Under the leadership of Jerry Moe, M.A., Vice President and National Director of the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program, the Children's Program & Training Academy (CPTA) will extend the Children's Program philosophy and core benefits to new geographic areas, additional service providers and educational partners. The number of families and children touched through the program will increase. As local agencies are trained to serve this neglected population, the impact of the program will spread.

Located within the Betty Ford Institute, the CPTA will offer a range of services: (1) A formal Training Academy Licensing Program for agencies; (2) A Certification Program for individual professionals; (3) Individual Consultations; (4) Enhancement Services, and (5) Training Tools.

Training Academy Licensing Program

CPTA classes bring together qualified community programs and agencies desiring to add the component of a children's program to their array of services.

Through the Training Academy, a version of the Children's Program will be designed to meet the unique needs of each local agency and its client population.

Enrollment standards are set intentionally high. Agencies who apply are matched against twelve qualifying criteria which include the capacity to provide a realistic plan for implementing this training in their local community. Individual applicants from these agencies are also screened for academic qualification, experience and references. All applicants are pre-interviewed by phone or in person by senior Academy staff. Upon acceptance, enrollees from the agencies begin a multi-phase program over a period of 12 – 18 months which leads to Certification of the agency from the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program & Training Academy. Upon completion of all program criteria, the Agency may be licensed by the Academy to present its own version of the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program. Evidence of local funding to offer and maintain the Children's Program is required prior to licensing.

Certificate Program

Many clinicians and private practitioners seek special training to help youngsters hurt by family addiction problems. Other caring professionals such as teachers, Children's Protection Services staff, law enforcement personnel, coaches, youth workers and faith community leaders also look for insight and understanding as they help these children. Combining on-line learning, with a four-day didactic and experiential workshop at the Betty Ford Institute, CPTA will offer a Certification Program for professionals.

An application process, including a phone interview, leads to qualification for enrollment. Participants must complete a variety of steps, including attendance at 12-Step meetings, completing course reading and preparing a paper outlining an understanding of issues and proficiency in using this information. As a final step, participants must pass a comprehensive exam on site.

Candidates for Certification, either through the Training Academy Licensing, or as individual practitioners, share similar educational objectives to assist children, including:

1. To increase understanding about alcohol and other drug addiction as well as the impact of this disease on children;
2. To describe certain behaviors, problems, and issues that youth from addicted families may exhibit;
3. To highlight the importance and benefits of both early intervention and prevention activities for children from addicted families;
4. To learn about materials, tools, and community resources that can be utilized to help these children;
5. To increase awareness and skill development on how to develop children's strengths by demonstrating caring and creating a safe place;
6. To increase skill building by utilizing specific strategies and techniques designed to promote children's resilience.

Because of the significance of this Certification Program, the Betty Ford Institute Children's Program & Training Academy looks to collaborate with organizations such as the National Association for Children of Alcoholics to develop a standardized Certificate Program.

Individual Consultation

The Children's Program & Training Academy offers individualized consultation and training on a fee-for-service basis. Circumstances may arise when the needs of an agency, community or individual may be unique and necessitate immediate attention from the Academy staff. These circumstances may include:

1. Specialized training for individuals
2. Designing, developing or expanding programs for a special population
3. Training agency personnel to enhance group facilitation skills
4. Establishing a continuing care program
5. Monitoring and Evaluating Effectiveness of Children's Program Services

Enhancement Services: "Value-Added" Services for Existing Programs

The CPTA will serve as a resource for other organizations in the field which specialize in addressing the issues of children from addicted families. Most existing programs offer activities limited to one hour each week. Only a handful of programs offer more than one day devoted to children in this "high risk" population. Nearly all programs struggle with getting parental consent, overcoming transportation issues, identifying adequate space, and especially, in identifying funding to underwrite operating cost or client fees. The CPTA will convene an annual conference inviting all of these existing programs to share their experience in identifying solutions to the challenges encountered on a daily basis. The first conference will be held in Dallas, Texas, a central location for the majority of prospective participants.

The CPTA is prepared to offer a variety of Program Enhancement Workshops such as:

1. Achieving Sustainability
2. Engaging Children in the Healing Process
3. Building Community Referrals
4. Tools and Techniques to Reach Youth
5. The Challenge: Working with Parents
6. Building Awareness through Effective Marketing
7. Evaluation: Outcome Studies to Determine Effectiveness
8. Fundraising: Start-Up and Long-Term

Enhancement Programs and Workshops can be arranged on virtually any topic that improves the quality and viability of existing services for children living in a family impacted by addiction to alcohol and other drugs.

Training Tools

Throughout its history, the Children's Program has developed several tools that effectively reinforce the message of hope and healing for children participating in the program.

Long after the program ends, these training aids remind the child of the important points they learned. Such items include:

1. Quarterly Newsletters (the format can be adapted for other agencies)
2. Series of Kids Videos, for children, parents, and professionals
3. "Beamer" series of lesson books. A series of 12 chapters, fully illustrated, and age appropriate remind children of what they can and cannot control. This series has proved to be a wonderful training aid for professionals.
4. "Beamer" doll that personifies the main character of the lesson books.

The CPTA will continue to create additional training products to encourage children and support parents and professionals.

Jerry Moe, MA, MAC, CET II Vice-President & National Director, Betty Ford Institute Children's Program & Training Academy

Jerry Moe, M.A. is the Vice-President and National Director of Children's Programs at the Betty Ford Institute in Palm Desert, California; Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas; and Denver, Colorado. An Advisory Board Member of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA), he is internationally known as an author, lecturer and trainer on issues for young children from addicted families. Mr. Moe received the 2005 America Honors Recovery Award from the Johnson Institute and in 2000 received the prestigious Ackerman/Black Award from NACoA for "significantly improving the lives of children of alcoholics in the United States and around the world" the 1995 Promise Award in Texas for helping children grow up principled, valued and caring, and in 1993 the Marty Mann Award for outstanding communication in the alcoholism and addiction field. Jerry Moe's books include: Kids' Power: Healing Games for Children of Alcoholics; Conducting Support Groups for Elementary Children; Discovery... Finding the Buried Treasure; Kids' Power Too: Words to Grow By; The Children's Place... At the Heart of Recovery; and the Beamer Series for Kids. Mr. Moe's work has been featured on the Today Show, People Are Talking, NBC's Newsmagazine Cover to Cover, Good Morning America, Texas and Nickelodeon News, Parents, Time, McCalls, YM and Parenting magazines, as well as the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and USA Today. Mr. Moe has been developing programs and facilitating groups for children from addicted families since 1977.

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